Hello everyone!
I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer. Can you read cursive? For the over 40 crowd,
it's probably not too difficult. We may be a little out of practice,
but since we wrote a lot in cursive as children, we haven't lost the ability to read it, even now
when almost all of our written communication is on a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone.
I've seen and heard about some funny situations when the inability to read cursive prevents
communication. Young people receive greeting cards and letters from older relatives in cursive,
and the message can't be understood unless it's read aloud by someone who can make
sense of the handwriting. Recently, I overheard a young woman complain to her coworker that she
couldn't understand the notes, she couldn't read the notes posted next to the computer
because they were written in cursive. Cursive may be on its way out, but until that time,
you'll occasionally have to deal with cursive handwriting. In this lesson, I'd like to show
you samples of cursive from different people. I'll also include some related vocabulary.
I'm not going to teach you how to write in cursive. There are plenty of online
tutorials for that. And yes, I know there are apps that recognize handwriting and convert it
into printed text, but let's see just how well you can manage without one of those apps. Okay?
I do fear that cursive is a dying art, and while I love the convenience of typing on a keyboard,
I sometimes miss seeing people's handwriting. In school, we had penmanship classes. We had
to practice making different strokes, different movements, with our pencils.
This developed our fine motor skills. I remember some of those practice exercises.
We had to make circles like... Oh, I'm not very good at it anymore.
Of course, we were on lined paper. Something like that. Oh my gosh! Look. That's bad. I
can do better. Let's see if I can do better. All one size. Whoops. Okay. That's a little better.
I'm out of practice. We had this. Something like this. Yes. Oops. Then we had to do...
I think something like that. It's been a while. Are you ready for your first reading challenge?
It's not an easy one. I'll give you a moment to read this text to yourself. Do your best.
First, let me explain that grammar school is elementary school. In the past, we had different
names for those lower grades: grammar school, grade school. Today we say "elementary school."
I'll read the text aloud now. I was taught penmanship in grammar school.
We practiced holding our pencils correctly between the pointer finger and the thumb.
I remember pages of... (You see all those strokes?) which I still cannot do correctly.
My grandmother had beautiful handwriting, and I will send or text a copy. She was born in 1891.
People have their own way of writing in cursive. Some write letters that lean more towards the
right or the left. Some write big loops; others write very skinny letters. My handwriting was
never beautiful, but I remember carefully writing my school assignments by hand on lined paper.
Today if my children write anything by hand, they print their letters.
Printing involves a lot of straight lines, and the letters are not connected.
Cursive involves a lot of curves and loops in order to connect all the letters in a word.
We can use cursive as an adjective, as in "cursive handwriting."
We can use cursive as an uncountable noun, as in "read cursive, write in cursive."
One rule in cursive is to finish the final letter of
a word and then go back to dot your i's and cross your t's. Like this.
I crossed my "t" and I dotted my "i." I teach English. I'm fairly certain that only people
over 35 use the expression "dot the i's and cross the t's." It means to
pay attention to detail. You need to be very careful and avoid sloppy mistakes.
For example, when you're submitting a job or college application, there are a number of
things that you need to get in order. Right? You need to make sure that everything is completed
accurately. You need to dot the i's and cross the t's before sending everything off. We can say "dot
the i's" or "dot your i's." Cross the t's, cross your t's. And we usually say "dot the i's" first,
but some speakers may switch it around and say, "Be sure you cross the t's and dot the i's."
Another fun idiom that an older generation is more likely to use is "mind your p's and q's."
Can you recognize p's and q's in cursive? Let's see.
Can you read that? I think quality is more important than quantity.
So, where is my one "p"? Right here. And two "q's"? Right there. Again, I don't have the best
handwriting, but p's and q's are similar. They both have loops that go in different directions.
You have to mind your p's and q's and make them different, make the loops go in the
right direction. The idiom is about being careful again. When you need to be on your best behavior,
you mind your p's and q's. For example, let's say you're having a business lunch with an important
client. You should mind your p's and q's. Ready for the second reading challenge? I'm going to
share some recipes. I know I'm not the only one who has handwritten recipes. Some of us have
inherited recipes from our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers... maybe even your
great-great-grandmother. Well, you're not going to be able to enjoy them if you can't read them.
Okay. Here you see two recipes. Look at the one on the left. Do you see the title?
If we follow this recipe, what are we going to make?
Bran muffins. All right. Next challenge is to identify the first five ingredients.
One egg beaten light. Two tablespoons of sugar. That's an abbreviation.
Two tablespoons of melted butter. Half a cup of milk. Half a cup of flour.
Okay. With this recipe, here's the final challenge. Who gave this recipe? Who wrote it?
A Mrs. Howard Hughes.
All right. Now turn your attention to the recipe on the right. What are we going to make?
Well, we could make a Hungarian salad.
Scan the recipe for three fruits and one vegetable.
I see these ingredients: pineapple, bananas, tangerines, and lettuce.
As I mentioned, Americans still buy and send greeting cards for birthdays, graduations,
and other special occasions. And some people sending these cards write in cursive. Beautiful
messages might get lost if the person can't read cursive. I'd like to share some examples of
beautiful thoughts from friends and family. These are more examples of cursive. They're pieces of
advice that these people received and still value. This is your third and final reading challenge.
My teacher, Mrs. Stewart, once told me to always be true to myself in every situation,
especially when life gets difficult. That has always stayed with me during my adult life.
When life has you down, just remember there is always someone somewhere who is suffering more than you.
This advice came from my paternal grandmother, who was born in Hungary in 1909.
She died in New Jersey at age 100. And this was submitted by my friend Sonya.
This was submitted by a friend and fellow teacher, Colleen.
Don't marry someone you can live with -- marry someone you can't live without!
Another friend decided to write out a quote. I'll read aloud while you read the text silently.
What is love? Love is patient and kind;
love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
I've saved the best for the last. This absolutely beautiful sample of cursive
comes from the wonderful teacher who taught me penmanship classes back in
grade school -- or elementary school, if you wish. I'll give you a moment to read her text.
The best advice I ever received was to be kind. Smiling at someone can change their
mood and brighten their day. Can you read her first name? Rosalee.
So, how easy was it for you to read cursive? Do you think you can manage without the help
of an app? I hope so. You can find a tutorial online if you want to learn or relearn how to
write in cursive. They say that writing by hand is good for us in a number of ways.
One way I use handwriting in my daily life is when I make my shopping list. I used to print,
but recently I forced myself to write more in cursive. I write what I want to buy, and then
when I'm ready to go to the grocery store, I take a photo. And then the photo is my shopping list.
That's all for now. Please like and share the video if you found the lesson useful. As always,
thanks for watching and happy studies! If you like the lesson, please consider purchasing a Super
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